


DDK

by Vesperchan



Series: Tumblr Shorts [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Based on a Tumblr Post, Dark!Minato, Dimension Cannon, F/M, Tumblr Prompt, Yandere, cute and fluffy, dark daddy kink, if you squint and ignore the last part, low key DILF vibes, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 11:19:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17897468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: The Edo Tensei brought him back and he's young enough to try making a new life for himself. Strong and powerful with the right people, Minato Namikaze requests her hand in marriage, and Sakura isn't quite sure how she could refuse.Tumblr prompt: "You are mine now. Don't look at anyone else."





	DDK

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jaylene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaylene/gifts).



DDK

* * *

Sakura leaned over the railing, wondering if her choice of attire was really appropriate considering how much of the back was missing. It was one of the few nice dresses she had left that would help her look like she belonged on the skybridge. No one walked into the fancy lounge in anything less.

From so high up she could see much more of the village and marveled at the build up. Nearly seven years later and it was unrecognizable from the dinky outpost she had grown up in. It was almost as if people were waiting with their inventions and their technologies for the world to be ready for peace.

Sometimes it felt like too much, especially on nights where she started off alone and was left by herself for too long. She wanted to go back to being sixteen and fighting for her life. Back then at least she felt like she was doing something important.

“You wore the dress.”

Sakura had felt his chakra signature the moment he stepped off the lift onto the floor, but hadn’t turned to give her position away until he called out to her on his own. She inhaled one last, free breath, and then turned slowly around.

“It is what you requested, is it not?” Sakura asked, tone cordial and civil. She crossed one hand in front of the other, keeping her posture perfect and poised.

“Of course,” Minato Namikaze sighed, looking blissfully pleased all over again as he took in the sight of her. “But you’d look amazing in anything, you know.”

“You might have mentioned that once before,” she replied, glancing sideways at the few others lazing about on sofas and at card tables. “But as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.”

“I’m very happy,” he cheered, approaching her with his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers. He wore a fitted charcoal-gray three piece suit with a floral embellished vest piece. He stopped just arm’s reach from where she stood at the railing and frowned down at something he saw. “You’re not wearing a necklace?”

“It wouldn’t suit the dress,” Sakura explained, touching the high collar. It was high and modest in the front, but once she turned all her angles and what seemed like miles of pale flesh were free to behold.  

“You’re not wearing  _any_  jewelry,” he remarked, brushing back the strands of hair that framed her face. He touched one of her naked earlobes and then drew back. “Was there a reason for that?”

Sakura flushed, setting her jaw as she decided to not be embarrassed in front of such a man. “I don’t have anything nice enough for the place you said you wanted to go. I’m a kunoichi and a medic, not a-not suited to something like this.”

But he didn’t seem upset. Instead he rocked back on his heels and rustled around in his pocket for something. His hand came out holding a long thin box he held out for her to watch as he popped it open. Inside was a thin strand of fine gold dotted with white diamonds that resembled stars in a sky. Sakura swallowed, feeling too light on her feet for a moment.

“That’s…”

She couldn’t finish the words as he cheered, removing the gift from its box and moving to slip it over her head. It hug low and sparkled whenever she turned. On a black dress, she couldn’t help but think she looked like the night sky.

He pulled her hair out from inside the chain and kissed the side of her face with cheerful affection. “For you. I’m glad you didn’t wear anything, this way I get to spoil my girl. Next time I’ll get you something for your ears.”  

“Minato, you don’t have to. It’s too much I can’t-”

He pressed a single finger to her lips and she went still, afraid that she had upset him somehow. She had seen his episodes, even if they never happened because of her. Like anyone else brought back from the dead, something was a little off inside Minato Namikaze, and it would likely never be made right until the jutsu that held him in the land of the living ran out. Seven years later it showed no signs of weakening, but he was stronger and richer than ever, inheriting lands from the Fire Daimyo because of his Namikaze heritage and famed conquests.

Tsunade and Kakashi had been desperate to appease him in a constructive way once they noticed his emotional deterioration. He was more brilliant than ever and they couldn’t risk losing his service to the village.  

‘ _He’s always had a soft spot for Sakura_ ,’ Naruto had mentioned during one of their meetings.

Kakashi and Tsunade had been hesitant to make their former pupil an assistant to the reanimated young lord, but there were few others they could trust so well and Sakura wanted to be useful.

Naruto had been right. Minato Namikaze had a soft spot for her that only grew softer as the years went by. Naruto had married and Hinata was even expecting their first child, but Minato hadn’t been interested in getting to know the new family any more.

“Have dinner with me instead,” he told her one night when she had encouraged him to visit his son and daughter in law.

Sakura should have seen the warning signs for what they were and gotten out when it was still safe to leave, but she had been foolish and too trusting to do what was best for herself personally. She went to dinner with him once and that was it. There was no convincing Minato that Sakura wasn’t meant to be his next new life partner.

 _“I’ll hand over all the land to this village if you’ll marry me,_ ” he told her over a dinner too expensive to taste.

That had been a week ago, and her excuse to ask for more time had run its worth. He had booked them a table on the sky deck for dinner and she knew what the night would be like. She still didn’t know what her answer would be, but she was dreading the reveal.

Sakura blinked, remembering where she was and looked back up into the sky blue eyes of her best friend’s dad. He was watching her without the usual boyish grin.

“You don’t like my gift?”

Sakura touched the gold of the necklace. “It’s too lovely for me, you shouldn’t have spent your money on it. I haven’t even told you what my answer is yet.”

Minato Namikaze smiled, but it was a strained thing and if she knew him better she might have guessed there was real fear in his eyes as he stared back at her.

“It doesn’t matter, you still deserve it. I want you to have it no matter what.” His hand reached up to touch the side of her face, running the back of his knuckles over her soft skin.  “No matter what.”

“You are too generous,” Sakura sighed.

Minato laughed, dropping his hand from her face and stepping back. “What’s the point of money if you can’t spend it to make the people you cherish happy?”

Sakura didn’t know what to do with his words, so she cast her eyes about the room once more and nodded to the far areas where tables were set up against the glass. “Dinner, then? You must be hungry after such a long day.”

She offered him her arm and he took it graciously. At the touch she knew there was a nervous energy that was building like stray lightning in his body and it made her all the more anxious for what she would say. What did she want to say?

She felt him help her into her seat and push her in, and numbly she felt the the fabric of the table cloth as she rested her palms on the edge. Sakura glanced outside, seeing everything and nothing as her brain ran dizzy thoughts over and over again.

“You okay?” he asked, reaching across the table to touch her hand and then pull it into his to hold. He grinned encouragingly, something he did for very few other people. Not even Naruto.

“You asked me last time we met to think something over.”

He let go of her hand and she saw his smile fall away. His shoulders dropped and her heart almost hurt for the reaction she inspired in him. It wasn’t her fault for making him feel anything and if he was reasonable he would understand that.

“You’ve thought it over,” he guessed without a smile.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what I was going to say when I got here, and now that I’m at the table talking about it I still don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

He hadn’t been expecting that, and it showed on his face. “You still haven’t made up your mind? Is-is it because there is someone else? Naruto said you used to be close to your other teammate but he-I didn’t think he’d be a safe ch-choice and I-uh, or is-is it something with me?”  

She hadn’t expected him to bumble through his words the way he did. She had worried he’d grow upset and dark and cold the way he was when foreign dignitaries tried to shoehorn him in meetings, or worse, when he was deployed on intelligence gathering missions that went south. When he floundered he reminded her a bit of Naruto.

“It’s not Sasuke. I gave up on that ship long ago,” she chuckled with self deprecating humor even as her mind drifted back to a pale face that never seemed to turn towards her.

“Is it because this was arranged? I know it might sound old fashioned and I’m not the best person to defend such customs, but arranged marriages aren’t as horrible as some might lead you to believe. An-and really it’s not as bad as the  _blind_  marriages, since we already know each other and know we like each other and-” His voice stopped like it hit a wall and he slowly pulled his hand back to his lap under the table. “Or…that  _I_  like you at least.”

“You offered the village a lot for my hand, that’s all I could think about. But then I reminded myself that this was a marriage I’d be investing the rest of my life in, and I couldn’t take such a commitment so lightly for the sake of even my village if I didn’t think I could see you as someone other than my best friend’s dad.”

He chuckled but it sounded almost wet, like he was forcing the sound out of his throat. “Ah, but we’re not so far apart in age as that, since my reanimation.” He swallowed loudly and shifted in his seat. “But I suppose I could understand how this might be awkward for you.”

Sakura forced herself to laugh and was proud at how it didn’t sound as terrible as she thought it would in her head. It seemed to perk him up a bit. “I guess awkward is a good word for it. I guess it doesn’t feel real.”

Sakura realized she didn’t want to say no and reject him outright, but she felt she couldn’t say yes and accept his offer as it was. She didn’t feel right moving in either direction, so she pulled back and did what she thought was safe.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re within your rights. There’s nothing to apologize for.”  He smiled and it looked faded and washed out, enough that it scared her. “Can I at least treat you out to the rest of the dinner?”

There wasn’t any temper or callous anger like she feared there would be. Instead of power, the man across the table felt like he was made of broken pieces and it scared her more. “Of course, but you don’t have to.”

“I want to,” he whispered, daring another sad smile.

Sakura nodded and settled back into her seat.

-

Like a bolt of bad luck, Sasuke was back in the village and sniffing around for her that next week. She avoided him as best she could, but he knew where she worked and they ended up running into each other when he requested she take a look at his eyes. She was one of the only people with the medical knowledge to properly treat him.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

“I know,” she answered.

Sasuke made a sound in his throat she was supposed to interpret, but she was done reaching out to make up for his lack of effort. If he wanted to communicate with her he could use real words.

“The dobe said you were busy, is there a reason for that?” he asked as she updated something on his clipboard. She didn’t bother looking up to face him and she could tell that annoyed him. Good.

“I don’t know, Sasuke, maybe because I am actually, in fact….busy.” She glanced up through her lashes with an unimpressed look. “You were expecting some other answer?”

“I heard you were seeing someone.”

“That,” she interjected with a hard note, “is personal and none of your business. Now, how long have you had irritation in your left eye?”

“There isn’t.”

Sakura frowned and folded the clipboard under her arm. “You did not just lie to my staff about something this serious for such a stupid, petty reason as gossip.”  

“It’s Naruto’s dad! That’s disgusting and you don’t know him.”

“You’re fine, I’m checking you off, bye,” Sakura sighed, signing her form and heading to the door.

She opened it for him and turned around, arms crossed, waiting for Sasuke to take the hint and leave before he opened his pretty mouth and said anything else. She should have known better. Seven years later and he was still a jackass. A pretty jackass, but still a jackass.

“The Founders Day Celebration, are you going there with him?” he insisted.

Sakura tapped the door with her toe and nodded to it. “Here’s the door, sir. If you’re fine enough to stand and bitch on your own I’ll be heading out on my own. Have a great rest of your day.”

“Sakura, listen to me-”

But she was already in the hallway walking away. She didn’t bother to store his clip chart away properly, but flung it onto the back counter for later, debating on if she should even file his work or not. She knew she would, because she was straight laced enough to hold her professionalism above all else, but she really didn’t want to look at anything with his name on it.

She heard him call out to her once, a sound of frustration more than anything else, but he didn’t follow her and he didn’t lower himself enough to chase after her and look desperate for her attention. His pride wouldn’t let him fall that far.

-

“But are you going to the celebration tonight?” Shizune asked later that day when Sakura went to her older friend to vent.

“I was planning on it, but now I don’t know.” Sakura opened up a bag of cookies and started to pop them into her mouth one after the other. When Shizune merely raised her brows Sakura just groaned. “It’s been of  _those_  days, don’t judge me with your eyes.”  

“He was that bad?”

“No, not really,” Sakura groaned. “But he was supposed to be better. He was supposed to be, something more than just a-than just a gossip hound. It’s been seven years since he got off his first horse of bullshit but he’s still riding something stupid. He hasn’t written in months. He never asked-he never asked me before if I was anything to him, he just assumed and….”

Sakura dropped into the chair and sank into the cushions. She pulled the cookie bag closer to her chest, wrinkling the packaging.

“He didn’t even want me.”

“Honey,” Shizune cooed, standing and walking over to where Sakura was having her meltdown.

It was so rare that Sakura even had vulnerabilities that could trigger such a reaction. The last time she had lost it had been after eight bottles of hard sake and three twelve hour days of intense work on ungrateful patients who wanted nothing more than to undo all her hard work.

Sakura numbly slid another cookie into her mouth and munched slowly.

“It’s never going to work. It never has and it never will so I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s been seven years and I’m already spent. I can’t do this thing where I-where I try and I wait.”

“You weren’t waiting,” Shizune corrected. “You were moving on and trying new things, new people, going on dates even.”

Sakura remembered turning down Minato and felt it for the mistake that it was. He had his issues and his risks, but the longer they stayed apart the more clarity she saw him with. 

He had a lot of trouble connecting with people, especially people he was expected to be close with, like his son’s wife Hinata. But since their last dinner together Sakura had heard he made the effort and was becoming a sort of regular in their lives. He had stopped going away on missions and was taking up more desk work. The land he had offered to give to the village if she married him had been signed over already, and thanks to his connections new lines of merchants were coming in to help sell and develop goods.

The further Sakura got from Minato the more of her mistake she saw.

Sakura lifted her eyes from the cookies and stared at Shizune, feeling the tears gathering. “I made a huge mistake.”

“Can you fix it at the celebration tonight?” her older friend asked.

Sakura swallowed, remembering the gold chain of diamonds and the view from up high. “I don’t know.”

“Is there a chance and is it worth taking it if you went tonight?” Shizune asked again. A soft but knowing smile telling Sakura that her problems were already well known and not so much a secret.

Sakura licked the crumbs off her lips. “Will you help me with my hair?”

Shizune just laughed. 

-

Later that night the lantern light made the gold clips in her hair twinkle. Her hair had been curled and brushed into soft waves that framed her face. She didn’t wear the same dress as last time, the occasion didn’t suit it, but she made sure she paired her dark black leggings with a thick cable knit sweater that swooped low in the back and showed off plenty. Everyone seemed content to lounge in comfortable clothes even if a few others were dressing up traditionally.

Sakura switched the charcoal clutch from one hand to the other, nervously glancing about for a familiar shock of gold in the crowd. She knew he would be somewhere at the celebration, he was being honored, after all.

A few other friends stepped out to wish her well and greet her, but she politely slipped out of their conversations with the explanation that she had someone she needed to find. Someone teased her about seeing Sasuke earlier and she almost flinched, but didn’t bother correcting them.

“Naruto!” she hollered over the crowds.

Her friend turned and waved, wading through people to get to her. Hinata was with her family talking to her cousins and sister about the pregnancy.

“Hey, we were just talking about you. How have ya been?” Naruto asked, reaching out to take her into a hug without thinking twice.

Sakura squeezed him once before pulling away. “Is your dad here tonight?” She saw his frown start and quickly rushed to add an explanation. “I want to talk to him. I’m not trying to avoid him.”

“Oh!” Naruto blinked, seemingly having not expected to hear that. “Yeah, he should be around here somewhere. I didn’t think you would want to find him though. He’s been-um, he-if you haven’t seen him recently you might be surprised.”

Sakura felt something in her heart stutter. “Surprised?”

Naruto shrugged. “It’s the Edo Tensei, I think it’s running out. You can see some of the cracks and the eye color is starting to fade too.”

Sakura felt a knife in her heart and all the regret swelled up like salt to antagonize the wound. “No.”

Naruto’s smile was sad, but he took one of her hands and pulled her closer for comfort. “He’s fine about it though, says he was lucky for the time he had.”  

“I’ve been an idiot Naruto, and I need to fix it.”

“Are you sure you want to? I mean, I just told you…the old man doesn’t have a lot of time left.”

Sakura drew comfort from his touch. “I need to do what I can, I need to do what I know I should have to set things right.”

Naruto watched her for a moment longer and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll help out as much as I can. I think he was with Kakashi last I saw. Good luck tracking down that old goat.” He tugged her along, glancing about before looking back over his shoulder at her worried expression. “I guess you saw Sasuke then?”

“ _He_  saw  _me_ , it’s different and unrelated,” Sakura grumbled.

“Okay, but when they ask, know that I like you more because he also asked me earlier to help find you but I’m going to pretend I forgot since you don’t seem to be interested in getting another meeting with the teme.”

Sakura snorted. “Understatement of the year.”

She spotted him first, trailing after a hunch only to find him chewing on a stick of squid behind the seafood stands. He saw her and went stock still like a deer in lantern lights, it made it easier for her to reach him if he was too stunned to run away.

“I finally found you,” Sakura gasped, stopping with her hands on her knees, nearly out of breath. She didn’t want to think about how her shortness of breath was less from the running and more from the anxiety.

“Sakura,” he simply greeted, voice meek but pleased.

She looked up and saw the signs of wear Naruto had mentioned. His eyes were starting to adapt the dark color that often came with reanimated corpses, and lines like the ones seen in broken pottery cracked along his neck and jaw.

“I should leave you two alone now and find Hinata again. Haha, take care guys, bye dad!” Naruto called, running backwards and nearly knocking into someone who was just fast enough to draw back in time to save their food.

“You are a hard man to find,” Sakura sighed, approaching the bench and pointing to the empty spot beside him. “May I?”

“Of-of course,” he stuttered, moving over to offer her more room. “Would you like a stick?”

Sakura chuckled at his basket of fried squid. “No thanks, I ate way too many cookies during my break at work. Stress eating.”

“Has it been rough?” he asked.

She waved her hands around and then laughed. “Not really, just some patients can be a real handful in the emotional sense. Sometimes I hate that we have to treat everyone, regardless of relation.”

“That does sound stressful, but I know you’re a dutiful worker. You’re a boon to wherever you work.” He licked his lips free of salt and wiped his hand on his pant leg, trying to wipe free the grease. “You look well though.”   

He was blushing and Sakura was absolutely delighted. “Really? Thank you. I almost didn’t have the energy to come tonight, much less dress up for it.”

He glanced sideways at her on the bench, and with her leaning forward he could see the deep cut to her sweater’s back. He swallowed and licked his lips once more, tearing his eyes free as the tips of his ears turned red.

When he spoke his voice almost cracked. “You still look amazing.”

After a day of frustrations and scares and multiple low points, Sakura finally felt like the smile on her face was meant to be there. Making him fluster made her feel like a stroked cat set to purring. She was done hesitating.

“Hey, I was a real asshole last time we were together.”

He ducked his head and shook it slightly. “No, Sakura you don’t need to-”

“Shut up and let me finish.” She reached for his hand and he jolted. Sakura stood and walked around to stand in front of him and took another deep breath. “I was a fool and a jerk and I’m still somewhat of a fool and I can be a jerk at times but I don’t want to be an even bigger fool and miss out on trying to fix one of my mistakes.”

He looked up slowly and the world seemed to slow and fade out. She couldn’t smell the fish or hear the laughter or see the colors from the lights. It was just the two of them for a heartbeat’s moment.

“I made a mistake when I told you no and I’m regretting it. I know I don’t have any right to say this now after I’ve been so horrible, but I need you to know I regret what I said to you last time. I wish I could go back and change it all and fix what I said.”

“What would you fix?” he asked, voice soft enough that she thought he might not believe what he was hearing.

“I would have told you yes.”

He pulled his hand back and fumbled, reaching into his pockets for something and finding it eventually. It was a small silk pouch with a seal on the outside. He opened it up and let a diamond ring tumble into his palm. He reached for her hand with his free one, like he was afraid she would run on him if he didn’t.

“I’ve had this on me since that night! I’ve been carrying it around since then and I couldn’t bring myself to return it, but I didn’t think I’d ever get to use it.” He swallowed again. “Can I?”

Sakura felt herself nod. “It’s not an arranged marriage anymore, is it?”

He laughed, taking her hand and spreading out her fingers to slip the ring on. “Not if you don’t want it to be. You chose me after rejecting my proposal, after all.”   

Sakura was a balloon she felt so light, but her heart was hammering so fast she didn’t know how that was possible. She felt it all over, a wild sensation of elation and anxiety in a good sort of way. She felt the tears on her face as Minato reached up to wipe them free.

 “For however long I have, I want to spend it with you.”

“Me too. No matter how long or how short, you and only you.”

He drew her close and pulled her to his chest, holding her like he was afraid she would float away without his arms to keep her grounded. She felt him kiss the crown of her head and giggled at the touch. She had been kissed before, but his soft affections made her feel far more alive than ever before.

“You’re really okay with an old man like me? The Uchiha, he’s not… a-are you sure?”

 When she nodded into his chest he laughed, pulling back enough to tilt her chin up. She blinked at the missing cracks on his neck and the brightness of his eyes. There were ghosts of them left on his skin, fading right before her eyes.

“I’m yours,” she promised.

He hummed gladly. “Yeah. You’re mine now, so don’t look at anyone else,” he teased.

* * *

_Bonus (optional ending)_

Minato Namikaze stood up and wiped the knife clean again. “I thought I told you last time you came here to stay away. Was I not clear then?”

Sasuke spit blood onto the grass, holding onto his side with the only hand he had. There was sweat across his brow from the failed counter jutsu he had fumbled through. 

“You’re not supposed to be like this. She thinks you’re-”

The knife dug deep into the bark of the tree beside Sasuke’s face, crackling with stray lightning. “ _I_  am  _hers_ , you insolent brat. Don’t you dare think you have any grounds to threaten us, to influence her thoughts against me. You know _nothing_.” 

“You are a monster,” Sasuke hissed.

There was a darkness in the older man’s eyes as he pulled back. “Yes, but I’m  _her_  monster, so remember that next time you try to poison her against me.”  


End file.
